


Protection

by Kuudere_Aquarian



Category: Twilight (Movies), Twilight Series - All Media Types, Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Blood Drinking, Blood Servant, Colin and Brady are twins in this one, F/M, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Imprinting (Twilight), One Shot, Originally Posted on FanFiction.Net, Why?, because I say so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-08
Updated: 2020-06-08
Packaged: 2021-03-04 06:02:37
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24608875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kuudere_Aquarian/pseuds/Kuudere_Aquarian
Summary: Originally written 2012 and posted on FF.net under my pen name there: Fallen-Autumn-LeavesUpdated and edited 6/2020A girl turns up in the woods around La Push, hurt and alone.Paul automatically knows she is his imprint.
Relationships: Paul Lahote/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 16





	Protection

I was running in the woods doing patrol along the northern border when I stumbled across something I didn't expect. A girl was huddled on the ground. She couldn't have just stumbled from the main hiking paths, we were miles from those.

I took a step closer and got a good look at her while remaining hidden in the bushes. The girl so beautiful she put the moon to shame. Even shivering in the cold with with matted brown hair against the side of a tree. She wore nothing but an old blanket safety-pinned into a makeshift dress. My heart gave a huge thump and seemed to begin to heat just for her.

I stepped out of the tree line, completely forgetting to shift. Surprisingly, she did not scream. I nudged my way behind her, forming a pillow of sorts, and wrapped around her. Soon she stopped shivering. Looking down at her I took in her appearance. She had lovely green eyes, brown hair to the middle of her back, and tons of crescent shaped scars. Scars that looked similar to those on one of the Cullens, the one with the southern accent that rumors say survived a brutal vampire war. One of them was still open and bleeding. When I saw this, I knew I had to do whatever it took to keep her safe even if it meant she turned into one of the greatest of enemies. She began to whimper and I shimmied out from behind her. I wanted to be able to speak with her and shifted hidden by a bush. Returning to her side, I knelt beside her.

"Hello, what's your name?" I asked, soothingly.

"Harmony." Her voice was enchanting.

"Where did you get these?" I gently tapped a scar.

"My master." _Master_?

"What happened? Why are you here?"

"Master wanted me to be like him. I didn't want to so I ran, but he bit me first."

"Like him?" Only then did I smell the faint whiff of vampire. I had assumed previously that the scars were from a vampire, but it didn't cross my mind that there were vampires out there who were so sick as to keep a human like a slave. Though we hated the Cullens, I had to admit that maybe they weren't the worst of their kind. 

It seemed Harmony was preoccupied, she whispered, "It burns." _Burns? Was it too late and she was already turning?_ Lifting her in my arms, I ran as fast as I could to the Cullen's, if anyone knew the intricacies of the turning process, it would be them. Edward and the doctor met me at the edge of the woods. Harmony began to struggle when she saw the vegetarian vampires.

"Don't worry," I murmured. "They're going to help. See their eyes, they don't drink human blood." She looked up at me, trust in her eyes even though she knew I shapeshift and I haven't done anything yet to prove she could trust me. We entered the huge house and I sat her on the couch.

"I'm Dr. Carlisle Cullen. We will be able to extract the venom since it has not yet reached your heart. I will have to suck it out. Don't worry, I will stop once your blood is clean." Harmony nodded and stretched out her hand. She did it so easily, mechanically. Surely the normal response would've been to shy away.

After a minute or two, Carlisle pulled away and left the room. He soon returned with bandages, which he methodically wrapped around her hand. Jasper, the southern vampire, appeared next to her. She did not seem surprised by his sudden appearance, only shifting her eyes to the floor near his boots. This whole time she had not looked the doctor, or even Edward, in the face.

"My name is Jasper. These scars, were they made by a vampire?"

"Yes, my master." So I was right, a psycho vamp had been the cause of them. 

"Who is your master, pray tell?"

"I only heard his name once." She seemed fearful to even admit that much.

"Perhaps I know him."

"I wouldn't know."

"What's his name?"

"Daemon," she whispered it, the name held fear.

"How long have you served him?"

"Three years. I was thirteen when he took me."

"Took you?" his voice was low and I assumed he was keeping her calm with his special power.

"From the orphanage. My parents died when I was three. He took me when I was asleep. He kept me, the first year, chained to a wall. The second, I had my ankle bound to a chain that just reached the door. I could see freedom, but I could not reach it. This last year, he would let me roam free. But he would always chain me up before he left to hunt." She rubbed one of her scars, "He could not feed from me all the time, so he would hunt in the north."

"How did you escape?" Jasper questioned when she fell silent.

"He did not chain me. He bit me, hoping to change me and didn't bother to."

I heard her belly rumble. "Come on, let's get you to Emily's."

I thanked them and I carried her into the woods and towards La Push. On the way, I told her who and what I was. She drifted off to sleep when we hit the border. Arriving at Sam and Emily's house, the peace was shattered by Seth bounding out the back, nearly screaming my name before I shushed him. I pushed my way into the living room, my ears being assaulted by a million questions from the pack and Emily. After sitting her on the couch with me beside her I told them what I knew of her story.

"Poor thing," Emily exclaimed, forgetting to keep her voice down.

* * *

I awoke to a group of people looking at me. Paul introduced them to me: Jacob, a tall boy with long dark hair; Sam, alpha and a serious looking man who said I could stay as long as I liked; Seth, a boy who looked as eager as a puppy; Colin and Brady, twins and the newest members of the pack; Quil, smiling and loud; Jared, a calm medium between Sam and Quil; Embry, quiet and nice; and Emily, Sam's fiancée, soft hearted and kind.

Emily pulled me upstairs after introductions and to the bathroom to allow me to clean up a bit. "I'll be waiting across the hall. I'm going to try to find something to fit you."

I showered and scrubbed off years of grime. I hadn't had a proper shower in three years and I relished the hot water. Stepping out I wrapped a towel around me. Making my way across the hall, I found Emily going through her closet.

"That's what I found so far. We'll go shopping tomorrow." She pointed to a pile on the bed. I pulled on the underclothes and sweat pants. "How about this?" she held up a gray t-shirt. "It's too small for me. Try it on." I pulled it on. It was a little big, but otherwise okay. We headed downstairs and into the kitchen where she proceeded to brush and trim my hair. I felt like a new woman already.

* * *

As Harmony and Emily were upstairs, Sam pulled me aside. He asked how much she knew and I told him that she was aware of everything but imprinting.

"So you imprinted?" he asked. Though I could tell it was a rhetorical question, I nodded and he congratulated me with a hearty slap on the back. When I heard Harmony come back from upstairs, I followed and watched as Emily cut her hair. If I thought Harmony was gorgeous covered in dirt, she was breathtaking clean. I leaned against the counter, I was pretty sure I was staring, but she met my gaze and held its I couldn't feel too bad about it. In her eyes I saw trust, happiness, and- _could it be?-_ adoration.

Lunch was ready by the time they finished. Emily ladled out creamy potato soup, bits of ham floating on top. I sat on one side of Harmony, Emily on the other. Watching protectively as she ate the full bowl. She began to yawn between bites towards the end. When the meal was over, Emily told me to take Harmony to the spare room. She curled up on the bed-so thin and small. I sat on the floor beside her, just before she fell asleep, she whispered so I could barely hear, "Thank you."

* * *

Harmony awoke the next morning embraced by a pair of warm arms, instinctively she knew it was Paul. Looking up, she saw he was already awake.

"Harmony, I should tell you something. There is this thing, called imprinting, it's like love at first sight but stronger."

"Like soulmates?" 

He chuckled, "Yeah. The person becomes your whole world, you'd do anything and be anything for them... I'd do anything for you. I love you, Harmony. I know it's kind of sudden. You don't have to feel obliged to..." He was rambling. His face was hot and he knew he must be messing this up. His gaze was fixed on the wall near the door and as she spoke he moved it to focus on her face. He watched amazed as the admiration he thought he saw last night in her eyes morphed into something resembling love. His rambling trailed off as he saw her first real smile. 

A nod was all it took for him to beam and press his lips to hers in a chaste kiss. Emily called up the stairs that breakfast was ready and they parted; a goofy smile on Paul's face and Harmony let out a giggle. They walked to join the rest of the pack hand in hand.

Suddenly, Harmony knew her life would be better. A family of sorts, love, protection. And even if her former master hunted her down, she knew her imprint and the rest of her new family wouldn't let him take her back.


End file.
